American troops are supposed to be coming home from the Middle East, not the other way around. But, alas, they’re not, as the Pentagon (United States military authorities in the region, to be exact) announced that 100 more U.S. troops have been deployed to Afghanistan to help save a city from falling into the hands of the Taliban once again.

This from the Military Times:

Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland said the troops had arrived in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, to provide training and support to Afghan forces. He said they would serve as a “new presence to assist the police zone,” adding that Afghan security forces have conducted airstrikes in the area.

The Taliban have seized a number of nearby districts in recent weeks and now threaten to overrun the city itself.

An Afghan official told the Associated Press that the Taliban controls about 80 precent of the province in question, a hotbed for the terror org’s main revenue generator: heroine. According to the report, it’s a $3 billion (that’s right, billion) opium crop — a staggering number that accounts for most of the world’s supply.

In other words, that heroine that plagues America and can be bought on the street or online (illegally obviously) — chances are? It’s originally from the Helmand province.

The report also cited “warm weather” as a primary reason for the “insurgents” success lately. Helmand is just a stone’s throw from Kandahar — where the Taliban started it all way back in 1996.